Ashes: Australian cricket team celebrated in grand style at Sydney Opera House

Alex Nicholson

Under overcast skies that belied the triumphant atmosphere, hundreds gathered at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday morning to pay tribute to Michael Clarke's all-conquering Australian Test cricket team.

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Introduced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Australian captain Michael Clarke thanked fans nation-wide for their support and said the players still had a few hours of celebrating to do before turning their attention to the upcoming one-day international series against England and the subsequent Test series in South Africa.

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"This shows hard work does pay off. We've had so much support from all the fans and we really feel that as players, thanks for sticking by us through the tough times," Clarke said.

Despite the emphatic nature of the series win, in which Australia claimed a 5-0 clean sweep for only the third time in Ashes history, Australian coach Darren Lehmann said there was a lot of improvement still to do.

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"We spoke about playing cricket the Aussie way, and we want to keep getting better as a team on and off the field," Lehmann said.

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After claiming 37 wickets at an average under 14, man-of-the-series Mitchell Johnson said that with the Ashes series now over his famous 'mo' would be shaved off, but that fans can rest assured that it's not gone for good.